Note: Some footage used in this video was filmed prior to the pandemic and may not depict social distancing measures.
Transcription – Jenna Forslund - 2020 Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in STEM
[Close-up of woman in a classroom setting against a bulletin board and books. Music playing.]
"I think technology has benefitted students in a way that information is just more readily available to them."
[Fade to black and then up to white with medium shot of woman, smiling, on the left side of the screen, with the following words appearing, line by line, on the right: Jenna Forslund, Elmwood High School, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Fade to black and then up to close-up of Jenna in the interview setting with voice over.]
"I think one of the number one contributors of student success is a student feeling like their voice is heard."
[Cut to photos, with voice over. Photos: Jenna wearing a hard hat on a boat with a starfish in her hand; students gathered in a circle around a cardboard model of a city.]
"And by honouring that it brings on a whole other slew of benefits. Like students feeling loved, respected, accepted in their classroom."
[Fade to black and then up to Jenna in the interview setting.]
"Well I think to motivate a student you really have to get to know them and what they're – what their passions are."
[Cut to photos with voice over. Photos: students sitting at a table with tablets; two students performing a science experiment with beakers; two students standing in front of a board with information about polar bears.]
"And once you've figured that out it's – you can almost kind of sneakily tie it into your teachings to really engage them. Or if there's opportunities for them to teach something to the class I think that's very empowering as well."
[Cut back to Jenna in the interview setting.]
"A student's not going to want to do a lot for you if you don't get to know them, and what their passions are."
[Fade to black and then up to Jenna in the interview setting.]
"I would say if you're thinking about nominating a educator for the Prime Minister's Award one, you should do it right? It's been an honour to be recognized by my administrator and my colleagues for the work that I've done. But I mean I also recognize that I'm not – I don't accept this award in isolation. I'm able to do what I do because of the support I have in my school."
[Cut back to Jenna in the interview setting.]
"Being a teacher you have to love kids."
[Cut to photos with voice over. Photos: Two students measuring paper; four students doing science experiments with dirt and water.]
"It's not just you know, loving the subject area, but you have to realise that being an educator goes far beyond subject matter. It's you know providing students with opportunities to practice these skills of democracy, global citizenship."
[Cut back to Jenna in the interview setting.]
"So if that's in your wheelhouse then I think education would be a really good career for you."
[Fade to black, with the Government of Canada FIP and then the Canada Wordmark appearing in white.]
Year: 2020 — Province: Manitoba
Certificate of Excellence Recipient
Elmwood High School
Math, Science and Environmental Education, grades 7–12
Winnipeg, Manitoba
[Jenna] is the teacher we all strive to be: naturally inquisitive, incredibly hard working, and dedicated to her students and the larger communities of which they are a part.
Jenna Forslund completed her master's of education in sustainable development with a focus on culturally relevant teaching practices in the science curriculum. This translates into her actively integrating Indigenous perspectives and traditional ecological knowledge into multidisciplinary projects and learning experiences.
Teaching approach
Jenna draws students into the sciences through project-based learning, knowing that students find it engaging and meaningful, and enjoy taking part. Once she has engaged them, she helps students gain a deeper appreciation for science—its processes and the way knowledge is gained.
STEM in the classroom
- Uses hands-on projects in all curriculum areas to solve real-world problems: students built a 3D model of a city, while researching ways to make cities and homes sustainable and eco-friendly, calculated the number and size of booms needed to contain an oil spill while developing a plan to clean it up, examined strategies for countering the build-up of volatile organic compounds in cities, explored connections between climate change, food insecurity and Indigenous land rights in the North.
- Gets girls excited about science: students have taken part in a two-week summer field experience with the International Institute for Sustainable Development; another studied arctic science on board a Canadian research ship; still others contributed to polar bear research at the Churchill Northern Research Centre and presented their project at an international meeting of arctic scientists in Halifax.
- Integrates technology into math and sciences classes: students create short Claymation videos to teach about composting (one won a $3,000 prize), use multimedia for projects, including prize-winning graphics to show every day uses of minerals, access citizen science projects on Monarch butterfly migration patterns, learn coding through Ozobots, and use Gizmos and Vernier interfaces in labs.
Outstanding achievements
- Leads school efforts to increase sustainable practices at the school: introduced school-wide composting program; revitalized the courtyard with native plant species; spearheads school's Sustainability and Envirothon teams (the latter takes part in a provincial environmental competition to collectively study and perform an outdoor field test); organized school division's Arctic Science Day.
- Excels at writing successful grant proposals to support activities such as the FortWhyte Water Festival:
50-plus grade 7 and 8 students led water-related workshops for grade 5 and 6 students; Jenna's students gained leadership experience and understanding of the real-world application of environmental science. - Takes part in provincial Science Teacher Inquiry Project and co-chaired the province-wide Arctic Climate Change Youth Forum that Elmwood hosted in 2016.
- Play active leadership role at school, including as a sports coach (basketball, indoor and outdoor soccer, curling) and a key member of the Middle Years Science/Math team, and in the school division as teacher-mentor for on-the-job learning to help educators improve their teaching practice.
Get in touch!
Elmwood High School
5050 Chalmers Ave
Winnipeg MB R2L 0G4
204-667-8823
elmwood@wsd1.org
https://www.winnipegsd.ca/schools/Elmwood/Pages/default.aspx